It’s the 1985 European Cup Final, Liverpool v Juventus, at the Heysel Stadium in Belgium. Liverpool are all set to acquire their 5th European Cup. Just a couple of weeks preceding, Everton had won the European Cup Winners Cup, a monumental 3-1 victory over Rapid Vienna. It appeared that it would be a splendid month for Merseyside. The fairytale soon changed to a horror tale however. Thrill and happiness turned to death and dejection as dozens of Juventus fans were crushed in the Heysel Stadium. Juventus went on to win a subdued final 1-0, but this was only the beginning of the greatest downfall in English Football history - the downfall of Everton Football Club.

It has been 21 years since Everton last won the League Championship. What was supposed to be another title on the way to a dynasty of that Manchester United enjoyed in the 1990s was followed instead by almost two decades of decline, punctuated by more false dawns than any Evertonian might have thought possible.

A ban was imposed on English involvement in European competition for 5 years. It had a substantial impact on English football as many of the best players went abroad to ply their trade. The standard of football dropped radically as pass and move was replaced by long ball. All English teams suffered in the absence of European competition, but I believe no club bore the brunt more than my dear Everton.

Everton, one of the dawn members of the football league, were always, without doubt, one of the most victorious clubs in England. Even today, they have played more games, scored more goals and competed in more seasons of the top flight than any other team. It was the at the beginning of the 1980s however, with the arrival of Howard Kendall, where a true supremacy seemed as to be in construction. Players with the calibre of Trevor Steven, Peter Reid, Gary Stevens, Andy Gray, Kevin Ratcliffe and Neville Southall all donned the famous royal blue jersey. It seemed as if Everton were on the brink of taking over the baton of success from their fierce local rivals, Liverpool.

Success, of course, did arrive. Everton lifted the 1984 F.A. Cup, but it was the 1984-85 which was to be the season in which the true potential of this Everton team was to be displayed. The league title arrived, as well as the European Cup Winners Cup. Everton were indeed the kings of England, and if you were kings of England in the early to mid 1980s, you could rightly claim to be the greatest team in Europe also. The Everton fans truly had a team to be proud of and no longer had to the butt of jokes from Liverpool fans. But, then, the Heysel Stadium disaster occurred, and the chance for Everton to test themselves against the cream of Europe was gone.

Everton still remained the dominant force in England in the mid 1980s, winning another league title with Gary Lineker at the peak of his powers leading the front line. They appeared in many League and F.A. Cup finals, not always winning I acknowledge, but it was generally accepted that Everton were “the team”. Soon however, it all turned sour. The best players packed their bags to get European football, or simply to escape Everton’s decline. Lineker set off for Barcelona, Trevor Steven for France and Gary Stevens for Scotland, while Andy Gray and Peter Reid set off for pastures new. Everton had lost its greatest chance to be the best in Europe. This fact still frustrates most Everton fans today. There is of course no certainty Everton could have created a new dynasty in the mid 1980s, but we had a chance, a fantastic chance, one which seems so distant today.

After the glory of the 1980s, the 1990s turned in to a regular tussle for survival for Everton. There was a brief return to the glory days when the 1995 F.A. Cup was brought home to Goodison Park, but this success was a one-off. Numerous managers came and went, Colin Harvey, then Howard Kendall, then Mike Walker, then Joe Royle, Howard Kendall again, Walter Smith and finally, the current manager, David Moyes.

And what may you ask was the cause of this decline, could we really have had the misfortune of a bad run of such magnitude or was it something else - in all honesty yes it was - and now we come to what you could say, would on a darker day sound very bitter, but here we go.

The European ban, nothing else can be put forward for the explanation other than this. Everton at that precise moment in time were the leading force in English football . The ban brought with it the break up of a championship winning team, and a team that would have almost certainly gone on to win the European Cup, and whilst you would think it was easy to say that now, well frankly it isn’t, just pondering such words makes me sick to the stomach when I think of what could have been .

Everton as the song go’s at many football grounds around the country “we’re by far the greatest team the world has ever seen ” - they were world beaters in many eyes not just through the blue haze of bias, but after an event of catastrophic consequences at Heysel stadium the rug was pulled from beneath not just us, but everyone. With the events of what happened in Belgium, just three days later after what seemed to be inordinate pressure from our then “wonderful” Prime Minister, a five year ban was imposed, with the red half of our fair city to serve an extra three years, of which they served only one. This was the event that had Everton strewn like pebbles on a beach, cast asunder never to find that cohesion again, this event and this event alone was the cause of the decline of Everton Football Club .

You could argue another reason for Everton’s decline was the former chairman, Peter Johnson. He forever talked a good game, famous managers, i.e. Trappatoni, Bobby Robson; famous players, i.e. Ravanelli, Muller, Shearer, Andy Cole and many others too numerable to mention, were all supposed to be on their way to Everton during Johnson’s tenure in charge; all of course, never materialised. He also proposed a new stadium, but his plans never got off the ground.

Eventually he left, leaving a right old mess. We, the fans, thought he was injecting all his own cash in to the club during his chairmanship, but, when he opted for the Au Revoir, we found out the tantalising truth. He instead was loaning money from the banks, and when he left, he languished all the debts with Everton. This is the main cause of Everton’s perilous position today, coupled with a failed media deal with NTL which fell apart at the 11th hour. The club still has a sizeable debt, figures ranging from £40-60 million.

This has severely inhibited Everton’s spending on quality players. Plans for a stunning new 55,000 seater stadium in King’s Dock were approved, however, Bill Kenwright couldn’t find the meagre £30 million needed to provide Everton with the greatest stadium in Europe - stunting the construction of a waterfront fortress.

It kills me - and many other Evertonians - seeing teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Portsmouth and Aston Villa, Manchester City etc, splashing out on big players and sitting near the top of the table. A healthy Everton is every bit as big and in some cases bigger than those teams just mentioned. The summit is a long way away from Everton at the moment, but, slowly, I am sure we will one day reach the peak once again. When that time will be, I don’t know; 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, we can only guess, but when it comes, it will be the sweetest taste.

Hindsight is always 20-20 as they say, could we have been the Manchester United of today if the events of 1985 at a football match we had nothing to do with - albeit violence was rife within football at that time, but still nothing to do with us - had been different? Could we have went on to bigger and better things? Maybe so but that will sit in the back pages of history and all we can do is look to the future, and the times of celebration which I am sure are just around the corner.

Heysel and it consequences were cruel on every English club, but Everton suffered most. Now, we could be feasting on Champions League crowns, and toasting Premiership titles, but instead, we are left with the annual scrap for a UEFA Cup place, hoping and praying for a decent run in the cups. But, we Evertonians will never stop loving the club. We will still turn up on Saturday afternoon, chanting the names of our players, and hopefully cheering them to victory.

One day soon, we will be back, then and only then, we can make up for lost time.